Easy Clean operates a chain of dry cleaners. It is experimenting with the use of a continuous-improvement (i.e., kaizen) budget for operating expenses. Currently, a typical location has operating expenses of $12,000 per month. Plans are in place to achieve labor and utility savings. The associated operational changes are estimated to reduce monthly operating expenses by a factor of 0.99 beginning in January.

1. What are the estimated operating expenses for January? For June? For December?